One of the high-profile free agent acquisitions for Bellator MMA has his debut fight set.
MMA
DNA first announced on Wednesday that Brett Johns
(17-2) will be setting foot in the Bellator cage for the first time
against fellow bantamweight Matheus
Mattos (12-2-1). The two will toe the line at an upcoming
Bellator event on May 21, which will likely be titled Bellator
259. The card will be held at the Mohegan Sun Arena in
Uncasville, Conn., like its other events inside the “Fightsphere”
bubble. A promotion official was unable to confirm the pairing to
Sherdog on Thursday, but Johns did on his Twitter page.
Johns left the Ultimate Fighting Championship on a two-fight
win streak with victories over Tony
Gravely and Montel
Jackson in 2020. “The Pikey” competed seven times inside the
Octagon, only dropping decisions to top-10 talents Aljamain
Sterling and Pedro
Munhoz in 2018 along the way. The Welshmen
completed his UFC contract and decided to sign with Bellator a
few months later.
Mattos made his organizational debut in December, dropping a
decision to Magomed
Magomedov where he was outgrappled for three rounds in the
Bellator 254 co-main event. The Brazilian made his way up with the
ranks with four finishes in Jungle Fight, which led to his signing with defunct
organization Absolute Championship Berkut. Two decision wins
bookending a knockout loss to current UFC champ Petr Yan led
to his signing with Bellator. Unlike his opponent, “Adamas” mains a
very high finish rate, stopping 83 percent of his foes in
victory.